Since Asimov was quoted in the first paragraph, I might put fourth the example of Solaria./Naked Earth. OK, so it is a dead end, but it's a slow death.
At the point society started protecting those who should be at a natural disadvantage, evolution stopped. Eyeglasses were an early contributor, but certainly not the first. Why should we let hemophiliacs breed? To breed more hemophiliacs? If a man is laying face down in the street, apparently the street has beaten him. By preserving these people and allowing them to breed, we have effectively short-circuited survival of the fittest.
Gibson, Niven, Pournell, the Matrix, they're all 'Jonny come lately's. The earliest mentions I recall are Asimov with "City" and "Caves of Steel" and Paolo Solieri with his archologies. Who was really first?
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. This is a whole new set of rules designed by the banks, to protect the banks, footed by their customers (the ones who take cards and data), which will ultimately be passed on to the actual user (consumers). But hey, what isn't. I'm just on the technical end of the implementation, and it sucks.
http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/5026
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Dagnamit. I was just about to go there. How could this post go so long????
Since Asimov was quoted in the first paragraph, I might put fourth the example of Solaria. /Naked Earth. OK, so it is a dead end, but it's a slow death.
At the point society started protecting those who should be at a natural disadvantage, evolution stopped. Eyeglasses were an early contributor, but certainly not the first. Why should we let hemophiliacs breed? To breed more hemophiliacs? If a man is laying face down in the street, apparently the street has beaten him. By preserving these people and allowing them to breed, we have effectively short-circuited survival of the fittest.
'Nuff Said.
Gibson, Niven, Pournell, the Matrix, they're all 'Jonny come lately's. The earliest mentions I recall are Asimov with "City" and "Caves of Steel" and Paolo Solieri with his archologies. Who was really first?
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. This is a whole new set of rules designed by the banks, to protect the banks, footed by their customers (the ones who take cards and data), which will ultimately be passed on to the actual user (consumers). But hey, what isn't. I'm just on the technical end of the implementation, and it sucks. http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/5026